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Alison Maitland

Alison Maitland is a writer, speaker and former Financial Times journalist who specialises in leadership and the changing world of work. She is Director of The Conference Board’s European Council for Diversity in Business, a Senior Visiting Fellow at London’s Cass Business School, and co-author of the prize-winning book, Why Women Mean Business.

Amazon reviews

"Important, compelling and influential ... Future Work leads us into the 21st Century through business initiatives that increase competitiveness and improve profit while benefiting the human race." see more reviews on Amazon.com

"Future Work should be made compulsory reading for managers who need to work within the realms of new communications technology" see more reviews on Amazon.co.uk

In our videos section, we've uploaded some clips from a web interview I did with The Conference Board about the new edition of Future Work. The clips were also shown at the Corporate Diversity & Inclusion conference in New York in June. Do take a look!

There was a real buzz at the event kindly hosted by EY in London on Tuesday evening this week to celebrate the launch of the second edition of Future Work. We're grateful to Gail Sulkes, Larry Smith and Jacobina Plummer, all of whom feature in the book in one way or another, for being a fantastic panel of speakers and sharing their stories, and to the audience for their thought-provoking questions and contributions. We had a great evening and we're very pleased to see the ideas and messages in Future Work making an impact.

The latest edition of The European Business Review contains an edited extract from Future Work, in which we explain the TRUST principles for organisations to make a successful transition to agile future work by changing culture and management attitudes. The extract can be found here. The edition also includes features on innovation and on women's leadership.

What will the future world of work look like? How will the coming changes affect employees? What skills will leaders need to be successful in the new world of work? I answer these questions put by Bonnie Marcus in an interview she has written about Future Work for Forbes magazine online, published today. It's called "What will it take to succeed in the future world of work?"

I've been discussing the opportunities and challenges of Future Work in a webcast this week with The Conference Board's Matthew Budman, and also with Bonnie Marcus, US-based speaker, coach and radio show host. The webcast, How Flexible is Too Flexible? can be found here.

In the final chapter of the book we take a look into the future and identify some likely trends. We recognize that technology will continue to influence our lives and that connectivity will be available, wherever we are, at speeds unimaginable today. We consider the growth of the ‘contingent’ workforce and work becoming more of a tradable commodity, rather than a job. We look at the changing shape of careers to become more fluid and less linear, or ladder-shaped. And we raise the idea that offices will shift from being workplaces to meeting places.

Chapter 10 is a new chapter, which we’ve written to inspire and help individuals who want to introduce new ways of working in their organisation, department or team. There’s also advice on “dealing with technology overload”. And we address the dangers of ineffective management leaving remote workers feeling cut off, or overworked and burnt out.

New ways of working are introduced for many different reasons. They may be driven by legislation, employee requests, union pressure or ‘diversity’ goals, or they could be the result of a rationalization of space designed to save costs. In Chapter 9 we show how a future work scheme is introduced as part of the business strategy and contributes to the bottom line.

How can organisations make a successful transition from the old world of work to the new one? In Chapter 8, the first of three chapters on implementing future work, we set out strategies for making the shift, including the crucial TRUST principles – our five global guidelines that have attracted attention around the world.

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Peter Thomson

Peter Thomson is a leading consultant, speaker and researcher in the field of new working practices. He is a director of Wisework Ltd, specialist advisors on flexible working and was Director of the Future Work Forum at Henley Business School for 16 years. Prior to this he was HR Director for Digital Equipment for Northern Europe.

Recommendation:

"As Alison and Peter point out in this important book, organizations that give their workers more control over their time, provide them with more autonomy and empower them to use their skills and knowledge will be the winners in the 21st century. For many organizations and managers this requires a shift in culture and mindset. For those who are wondering where to start, I recommend this book."